Sandra Ducard (ME-1)
"The true revolutionary is guided by a great feeling of love. It is impossible to think of a genuine revolutionary lacking this quality." - Che Guevara Birdman Begins Reunion (Dancing in the Moonlight) "People in their first world throw away stockpiles worth of food, while people the world over starve. Millions die from easily curable diseases, even in developed countries like yours, while drug companies rake in the billions. Our planet chokes on our waste, becoming so toxic that life fails, slowly killing ourselves, and influential people in one of the most power counties outright deny it even occurs. It's genocide by greed, apathy, and neglect. These are the real crimes. Something must change... The Master's plans are vast... they will succeed. I can't stop them alone, nor can you. When the world gets a true taste of violent oppression, and their heroes lie dead and broken -- apathy will die. That's when you'll lead Leviathan to sanction key society members. You and I can end his plans, lead Öksökö under our agenda. We don't have to "save" this world, we'll mark the birth of a new world: one of peace and equality. Billions of lives will be saved, not just the handful you save on a good day as a vigilante." Shadow War Fate of a Revolutionary Legacy Personality "You can't get what you want by day, You have to take it by force, and at night." In many ways, Sandra is the bridge between Knight Owl and al-Mualim. She is not committed to Will's superheroic sense of justice, nor is she a believer in al-Mualim's world cleansing project, at least not the bleak picture he draws for the so-called lost masses. She was sometimes the zealot al-Mualim is, in that she was extremely critical society's rules, finding them woefully inadequate in any ethical sense, and she was cynical of the masses potential for improvement. Due to that, she has no compunction whatsoever about acting in direct defiance of law and even some common sense unspoken ethical standards, making no attempt to hide such actions even in the presence of others. Will onced contemplated that she might be a sociopath considering her apparent lack of a conscience and antisocial attitude, but as he got to know her, it became clear that it actually reflects her distast for the intense hypocrisy of those around her. While she demonstrated similar confusion at Will's endeaver to be a real superhero, she shared his core romantic sense of viewing the world at her core. She fundamentally believed exceptional people can make the difference on what course history takes, and she was even swayed by the Owl that the world could be saved; that people wanted the good, even if they could not be trusted to figure out what it was. Relationships William Lawton/Knight Owl "You hide from yourself. You look inward and all you see is rage and hatred: smallness. There is a light inside you, and it's greater than the shadow you think you cast." Henri Ducard Richard Blood/al-Mualim Ahl Shawahin Koriand'r/Starfire Trivia *Her nom de gurre, Shiva, is a reference to DC character Lady Shiva/Sandra Wu-San, but it remains in use for Sandra Ducard due in large part to a common interpretation of Shiva's symbolic nature, as well as etymology. **Shiva is one of the main deities in Hinduism. He is the god of Creation, Destruction, Regeneration, Meditation, Arts, Yoga and Moksha. He is part of the Trinity within Hinduism, along with Brahma and Vishnu, specifically as the Destroyer or "transformer." Gavin Flood, a British comparative religions scholar, as asserted "Shiva is a god of ambiguity and paradox," whose attributes include opposing themes. The ambivalent nature of this deity is apparent in some of his names and the stories told about him. In the Mahabharata, Shiva is depicted as "the standard of invincibility, might, and terror", as well as a figure of honor, delight, and brilliance. ***The Sanskrit word "Śiva" (Devanagari: शिव, transliterated as Shiva or Siva) means, states Monier Williams, "auspicious, propitious, gracious, benign, kind, benevolent, friendly". The roots of Śiva in folk etymology is "śī" which means "in whom all things lie, pervasiveness" and va which means "embodiment of grace". The word Shiva is used as an adjective in the Rig Veda, as an epithet for several Rigvedic deities, including Rudra. The term Shiva also connotes "liberation, final emancipation" and "the auspicious one", this adjective sense of usage is addressed to many deities in Vedic layers of literature. The term evolved from the Vedic Rudra-Shiva to the noun Shiva in the Epics and the Puranas, as an auspicious deity who is the "creator, reproducer and dissolver". ****Sharma presents another etymology with the Sanskrit root śarv-, which means "to injure" or "to kill" interprets the name to connote "one who can kill the forces of darkness," a particularly useful reading for Sandra. *The name Sandra is often used as short form for Alexandra or Cassandra. Alexandra is a feminine form of the male name Alexander, which is a romanization of the Greek name Αλέξανδρος (Alexandros) It is generally interpreted to mean "protector of man" or "defender of man." The name Cassandra is also from Greek derived from possibly κεκασμαι (kekasmai) "to excel, to shine" and ανηρ (aner) "man" (genitive ανδρος). In Greek myth Cassandra was a Trojan princess, the daughter of Priam and Hecuba. She was given the gift of prophecy by Apollo, but when she spurned his advances he cursed her so nobody would believe her prophecies. **The name was Sandra was chosen to reference both meanings, as Shiva, like her lover, desires to protect mankind, and provide it a better future, and she also is one of the few people who saves Will's sanity. **It also references the original Shiva, Sandra Wu-San/Woosan. *The second given name, Élodie, is French feminine given name, a variant of Alodia, possibly a Gothic name with elements Ala "other, foreign" and od "wealth, heritage." **This simulataneously references both of her parentages: "other, foreign" references her surrogate family: the Ducards, and "wealth, heritage" references her relation to al-Mualim, her mother, and non-biologically to Henri Ducard. **It is also meant to reference Élodie Yung. *She is the only woman Will seriously discussed having children with. **He argued to name their son William (Specifically Guillaume), after himself, his father, and his father. ***He was open to other middle names, but preferred Themistocles or Aristotélēs. ****She shot down Themistocles, and rolled her eyes at Aristotélēs. *****He took this to mean Guillaume Aristotélēs was acceptable. **He wanted to name their daughter Évangéline. Links *Character Gallery *Quotations Category:Created by RoninTheMasterless Category:ME-1 Category:Females Category:Original Characters Category:Versions of Lady Shiva Category:Antiheroes Category:Öksökö (ME-1) Category:Naturally Enhanced Biology Category:Martial Artists Category:Expert Combatant Category:Weapons Experts Category:Weapon Improvisation Category:Sword Wielders Category:Gun Wielders Category:Projectile Weapon Users Category:Knife Wielders Category:Body Control Category:Intuitive Aptitude Category:Danger Intuition Category:Seduction Intuition Category:Multilingual Category:Hyper-Reflexes Category:William Lawton (ME-1) Love Interests Category:Disguise Category:Acting Category:Tracking Category:Investigation Category:Gifted Intelligence Category:Geniuses Category:Camouflage Category:Espionage Category:Independently Wealthy Category:Tactical Analysis Category:Bō Wielders Category:Optimal Finesse Category:Intimidation Category:Interrogation Category:Knight Owl's Mentors (ME-1) Category:Characters Who Know Knight Owl's Secret Identity (ME-1) Category:Deceased Category:Legally Deceased Category:Europeans